The fire, burning a mixture of grass, brush and trees, started about 3:30 p.m. in the Hunters Valley area near Lake McClure.

Authorities ordered the evacuations of between 30 and 40 residences at about 7:30 p.m., said Kristie Mitchell, public information officer for the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office. No other homes are currently threatened, she said.

The California attorney general’s office has asked the state Supreme Court to depublish a controversial ruling that it argues will impede the state's ability to encourage conservation by charging people higher rates when they use excessive amounts of water.

A Los Angeles Department of Water and Power audio-visual technician was charged Thursday with misappropriating more than $4 million in public funds, creating another financial scandal for a city-owned utility that is about to request permission to raise rates.

One of the financial lifelines of California's bullet train project has been $3.2 billion in federal grants. But a provision included in a key transportation funding bill passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday could place a roadblock on future federal payouts.

Even as California's leaders prepare a new state budget that is flush with cash, Gov. Jerry Brown has increasingly raised the specter of another recession that could undo years of hard-won financial progress.